Smoke Rings
by Lady Chalcedony
Summary: Natsu is the secretly fire breathing, half-dragon barista who chronically smells of smoke. Lucy is the haggard pre-med regular worried for his health. A story told in 200-word snippets.
1. The Coffee Shop

**Summary:** Natsu is the secretly fire breathing, half-dragon coffee shop employee. Lucy is the haggard pre-med regular who's worried for his health. A story told in 200 word drabbles.

 **Disclaimer** : Fairy Tail belongs to the wonderfully talented artist and story writer Hiro Mashima.

 **From tumblr:** "i'm a med student who has a huge crush on the hot guy who works at the coffee shop who always gives me free drinks when i'm stressed and calls me princess even though i pretend i think it's annoying but i'm extremely concerned about him because he always smells like smoke so i always give him lectures about how terrible cigarettes are for you and i may have made a powerpoint which is probably excessive but lung health is extremely important and oops it turns out he's part-dragon or something hahahaha oops"

 **Author's notes:** A story with short chapters that will be posted in instalments of three or more, probably. Each chapter will be exactly 200 words in length.

* * *

01: The Coffee Shop

* * *

With the sweltering humidity of high summer fanning her back, it was the tantalizing prospects of air-conditioning that prompted Lucy to stagger into the little coffee shop wedged between her favourite boutique and the local grocery store. The bell above the doors jingled merrily as she stepped in, and Lucy was met not only with the beautiful, glorious smack of cool air, but also soft violin music, meandering from the counter.

At this hour, the café was half full. Workers on break and the occasional college student busied themselves on their laptops. Lucy joined the short line at the front, taking in the eclectic décor: cute wooden stools and metal-based tables, the walls painted a textured, cozy slate gray. There was a large selection of pastries lined up behind the glass casing, and Lucy eyed them hungrily. She dug into the pockets of her jeans, fishing around for loose change.

The barista waved her over. Lucy shook out a crumpled five dollar bill and a handful of quarters onto the counter, peering at the display. "Er… one Chai Latte and a strawberry tart please."

"Coming right up Miss!" he said cheerfully, grin wide and easy and pointed at the tips.

* * *

Date first published: March 23, 2016


	2. Names

02: Names

* * *

The barista's name, pinned to the front of his vest on a poppy red, oriental name plate, was Natsu.

Lucy watched him mix her coffee with an expert hand, movements smooth and quick as he gathered the necessary ingredients. His hair was a spiked pink, and Lucy absently wondered if it were dyed, on the account of a lost bet or something similar in nature. The thought came as quickly as it was discarded; Lucy herself had friends with some truly inspiring hair colours, and besides, she had spent her childhood surrounded by enough high quality stylists to know what dyed hair looked like. And it certainly wasn't as layered as that.

When the barista returned, it was with her latte in one hand and a jug of milk in the other. Lucy quirked a brow at the jug as the he settled her coffee on the counter. "Name?" he asked.

"Do you do this to all your customers," she let a smile slip into her voice. Lucy was pretty and she knew it. "Or am I just special?"

"Fairy Tail speciality, actually," the barista corrected, cheeky. "Although yeah, you have _no_ idea how many times we get asked that."

* * *

Date first published: March 23, 2016


	3. Order's Up

03:Order's Up

* * *

"I think I can imagine," Lucy said. She glanced at her coffee, and then at the question hidden in the barista's raised eyebrow. "And it's Lucy."

"With a y?" The barista was already doodling; hands steady, tongue a flash of pink at the corner of his mouth.

"With a y," she confirmed.

When he finished, the barista slid the mug towards her with a flourish. He deposited her strawberry tart onto a ceramic plate and rang up the necessary amount, tipping the change into Lucy's waiting hand.

"Pleasure doing business with you," he told her. Lucy gathered her food and made a beeline for the closest empty table, the barista sketching a two finger salute complete with a fanged grin behind her. Lucy rolled her eyes at him. She unslung her bulging bag from one shoulder and set her tart and her mug side by side. Attention from cute boys was always flattering, and Natsu was cute. Charming, even. She looked into her cup and let out a loose laugh at the picture staring out at her: her own name in bubble letters and the picture of a cartoon cat, one eye folded in a surreptitious wink.

Very charming indeed.

* * *

Date first published: March 23, 2016

 **Endnotes:** Tell me what you enjoyed, tell me what you didn't. Reviews are always greatly appreciated.


	4. Fairy Tail

04: Fairy Tail

* * *

The next time Lucy wandered into the café, it was after two weeks and an entire afternoon holed up in the newly opened bookstore just around the bend. By the time she walked out, loaded down with a plushy, bright yellow journal and the new and anticipated romance novel from one of her favourite authors, it was already dark. Automobiles flashed their rear lights as they drove: red and orange and yellow, bell pepper colours. The streetlamps threw long shadows over the sidewalk.

Lucy half-skipped, half clacked her way down the block, pausing three minutes in to peer at the warmly lit interior of the café. Relaxed and riding on the highs of a newly finished book-spree, she took her time for inspection, tipping her head at the adobe-brick walls, the tall windows, the name of the shop— _Fairy Tail_ \- written in a punch of white and gold over the black awning.

She pushed open the doors, and it was the same barista as last time, recognizable by the shock of pink hair alone. He was slumped over the counter; shoulders stooped and chin resting in the palm of his hands, looking ready to keel over from sheer boredom alone.

* * *

Date first published: March 24, 2016


	5. Second Meeting

05: Second Meeting

* * *

To be fair, the place was rather deserted.

Another barista, this one a pretty, blue eyed woman with her hair a spill of powdery white down her back, was running a washcloth over the counters. She shot Lucy a welcoming smile, and as the blonde dumped her bag into an empty seat, turned her head towards the pink-haired man.

"Natsu!" Her voice was short and pretty, high like a wren's warble. "We have customers!"

The barista unstuck his elbows from the counter and rose slowly, blinking in rapid succession. He had a slightly glazed look in his eyes.

Lucy waved one tentative hand. "Er…hello?"

"You…" he was squinting at her with a truly unnerving degree of concentration. Slightly groggy concentration, but unnerving nonetheless. Then, after a moment's pause in which Lucy had her hand frozen in the air and white-haired woman hummed a jaunty tune, exclaimed. "Chai latte and strawberry tart!" He sounded very pleased with himself.

It was kind of impressive, actually. _Lucy_ could barely remember what she had ordered in her air-conditioning seeking frenzy two weeks ago. There had been a latte involved, there always was, and a cute cat. But that was the extent of her recollection.

* * *

Date first published: March 24, 2016


	6. Chocolate

06: Chocolate

* * *

Lucy chose to have a large hot chocolate and one of the delicious looking crusty bread rolls they had tucked beneath the fruit muffins. She had been craving something sweet and warm for the majority of the afternoon, and the chocolate was calling to her with all its sticky marshmallow softness.

Same as last time, the barista didn't make any effort to hand her the drink immediately after completion. He had small, red-handled etching rod poised above the surface, a dent in his brow as he stared from the hot chocolate, to Lucy, and back to the hot chocolate.

"…Er," he hedged.

Lucy realized the problem, and paused incredulously. "You remembered my order but not my name?"

"I remember some of your name," he corrected with a sage look, though the hand holding the rod twitched a little. "It starts with an L doesn't it? You look like an L-person."

"I _am_ an L person." She shot back, tone dry.

He contemplated this, and Lucy could actually see the gears spinning in his mind, pulling drawers and snatching folders and ultimately coming away blank. He studied her very intently, and finally, slowly said:

"Luna, now was it?"

"Not at all."

* * *

Date first published: March 24, 2016


	7. Scents

07: Scents

* * *

Natsu had, for all purposes, looked at the blonde customer, and drew a magnificent, whopping blank.

It wasn't as if he made the effort to put a face to a name all the time—the Fairy Tail regulars, sure—but the café had a boatload of come and go patrons and memorizing everyone was just plain impossible. Foodstuff was easier to categorize—scents generally were. But names? Natsu was terrible with names.

The reason he had unconsciously tucked the girl's order away in the first place was because of scent. In the crowded metropolis of the city, where human and animal, gutters and pollution and concrete intertwined with the ever-persistent bitterness of coffee grounds, there was little that could throw Natsu off, in terms of combination. The girl had smelled of high-brand soaps, the kind with half a dozen herbal extracts ground within, ink on her fingers, a whiff of jasmine tea in her bag. All typical things. But than Natsu had taken a second, deeper scrutiny and found himself smacking face first into two different fragrances that didn't go together _at all_.

The smell of:

Sea brine, running water over rock.

Sunlight and warmth and the sky at dawn.

* * *

Date first Published: March 25th, 2016.


	8. The Unseen

08: The Unseen

* * *

The supernatural community in Magnolia was large and varied; with perhaps a quarter of said community unaware of their involvement in the community in the first place. With a parade of diluted bloodlines, relatives on the right side of the boundary keeping quiet and relatives on the human side not having a clue, it wasn't uncommon to see a quarter or an eighth—the ones with just a dash of _other_ in their veins—wandering the streets as ordinary citizens without recollection of the more bewitching parts of town. To be fair, Mavis had explained when Natsu first arrived, once their heritage had thinned enough, these children were in no more danger than their human relatives.

Meaning they were at risk, but not for the same reasons as a vampire-half with dietary issues, or a dragon-half that couldn't control his own element. A good portion of hazards were self-inflicted by the halves and full-bloods who weren't taught properly, and there were specific divisions which rectified that.

And the rest, intentional incidents?

Well, there were hunters and exorcists. Professionals. And even drowning beneath an ocean's worth of exams and papers, no one got away with anything eye-catching with Erza in town.

* * *

Date first published: March 26, 2016

Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't. Reviews are deeply appreciated. :)


	9. Let's Try This Again

09: Let's Try this Again

* * *

"…Linda?" The barista tried.

"Nope."

"Lydia, then."

"Getting colder," Lucy said with good humor.

"Layla. Leah. Lisa." The barista stared at her very hard, eyebrows creased, as if the answer were pinned in between the ruffles of Lucy's blouse. When Lucy shook her head, he threw up his hands in exasperation and made a truly aggravated dying-rodent noise deep in his throat. _"Come on_. Give me a clue. A syllable. Something."

"It's four letters long," Lucy explained, taking pity on him and his truly adorable series of disgruntled expressions. "And it has a U somewhere inside."

The barista contemplated this. It seemed a little painful. "…Luke?"

Lucy was suitably offended. "That's not even a girl's name!"

"Fits all the other requirements though," he told her unashamedly, shoulders rising in a shrug. "If it ain't Luke than what is it?"

"Lucy," huffed Lucy. "With a Y."

"Lucy with a Y," he muttered. "Gotcha."

The barista finished etching, and Lucy leaned in, fingers twining around the handle of her mug. This close, she frowned at the scent of smoke, just a wisp of it: sharp and bitter and cloying, steeped deep in the barista's uniform.

Maybe something had burned earlier, Lucy figured.

* * *

Date first published: March 27, 2016


	10. Staff

**Author's Notes** : Every tenth chapter will have 2000 words instead of 200, because there's only so much information that can be crammed into 200 word snippets.

* * *

10: Staff

* * *

Third time was not the charm. It was both mid-day rush and storming outside when Lucy hurried into Fairy Tail a week later, bumping the door of the café open with her hip and shaking an entire swimming pool's worth of water from her umbrella. The sky outside was stormy and ominous, stacked high with rain clouds and upturning an ocean over Lucy's head. In contrast, Fairy Tail's interior was cozy and bright, if crowded with marooned students.

Lucy blinked back the droplets that clung to her lashes, pulling back her hood. Behind her, the door swung shut with a spray of water. The line to the front was long and winded, sporting people from various states of dry to waterlogged to accidentally-took-a-bath-in-my-clothes, oops.

It was, judging by the harried expressions, not a good day for a lot of people.

She took a peek towards the front. There was the pretty woman from before, the one with pale hair and blue eyes, smiling brightly and efficiently managing orders. At the far counter, where the pink-haired barista usually worked, Lucy saw dark eyes, black hair, the sharp features of a different waiter and felt a vague, unfurling disappointment in her stomach.

It was a little ridiculous. Lucy had only met him twice, and even though their banters were fun and he drew cats in her drink (the second time the cat had been accompanied by a thumbs up) their interactions barely lasted ten minutes at most. Besides, the new semester had just begun. Lucy was here to get out of the raging storm outside, hopefully catch up on her required reading, and maybe do some studying for the quiz that that was undeniably coming up.

She ordered hot chocolate and a banana bread pecan muffin on the side because that had always been one of Lucy's favourite sweets. "Name?" the barista asked, a little absently, and Lucy blinked once before replying.

Getting out and finding empty space was harder and timelier. Lucy half-fought, half-squirmed her way through the mass coagulation of people, drink and muffin clutched to her chest. Through the tilt of wet floors and damp bags, she spotted a free seat at the back. It was tiny and adjacent to the bathroom door, but Lucy would take it.

This barista's writing was different from the pink-haired one's. Lucy sat on the plush, cool padding of the chair, mug cradled in between her palms. This one was sharper and artsier, with a flair for corners and loops rather than Natsu's bubble letters.

Oh well. Lucy shrugged. She tipped the mug back and relaxed at the first gulp of warm, sweet liquid and heavy cream.

* * *

The first month of the new semester, Lucy drifted in and out of Fairy Tail's doors once a week or so. Generally whenever she had loose change in her pockets or fancied a visit to the bookstore just down the street. Then the second month came, and the work load piled from her courses piled into a threatening, teetering amalgamation of files and papers. Fairy Tail was warm and cozy and the Stormy day Human Fish Can was a one-time scenario only, so Lucy found herself spending more and more of her afternoons there. Once a week from four to seven at first, then twice, until four months in Lucy was spending an average of three evenings per every nine days in her own special, reserved seat near the far window and she was on a first name basis with the staff.

 _This_ was what medicine was doing to her. Too many papers and not enough social life. But exams were coming up, Fairy Tail had become Lucy's personal safety study zone, and the time to reflect on her life choices was time that could be spent studying.

Most of the time, it was Natsu that took her orders. He had her favourites memorised—banana bread muffins and pita-bread rolls along with the fruit tarts—and either a hot chocolate for cold days or an iced latte for hot ones. He smelt of smoke. Lucy was not imagining it. Burned wood, burned _something._ When he drew her name into foam sometimes he leaned close enough for Lucy to count his bottom lashes, and she could always taste the harshness of it on her tongue.

When it wasn't Natsu it was Gray, the one with the sharp letters and rare smiles and sound advice. Then there was Mirajane, originator behind all of Fairy Tail's delicious array of rolls and salads. She offered Lucy tips on baking and reserved her slices of pie on Thursday afternoons. Lucy didn't meet Mavis until late fall, a small girl that wouldn't have looked out of place in a middle school at first glance, but was the owner of the establishment instead. Lucy had gawked and Mirajane had smiled that knowing, quirked twist of her lips, covered by one slim hand.

0-0-0-0-0

In October, Lucy was asked out by a senior boy in the sciences. He was tall and dark-haired, with an easy smile and big hands and a hearty laugh.

They didn't work out. It was a bit of a fling. In November, he kissed her on the cheek for a farewell, gave her two tickets to the movie she told him she wanted to see, walked away with autumn's fiery reds and oranges at his back.

Lucy took it well. It was fun, when it lasted. She went to the movie with Levy, her fellow book nerd and part timer at SolidScript's Bookstore, pigged out on caramel popcorn and carbonated soft drinks under the dim theater lighting.

Natsu stared at her very hard before handing Lucy a free hot chocolate with extra cream the next day, when she walked into Fairy Tail, determined to finish her psychology paper. Mavis slid over a slice of fresh pumpkin pie, on the house.

Her eyes were not red, and yes, Lucy did in fact brush her hair that morning.

* * *

In December, she took a break from her tower of medical textbooks and half-finished essays, instead choosing to dust off some of her old journal note-books from a half forgotten shelf in her room. Lucy wrote by Fairy Tail's dying hours, curled up soundly in her little corner, remembering old stories, her mother's voice like the ocean's waves in her ear, re-teaching herself the handling of prose and paragraph, character and story structure.

* * *

Sometime between first snowfall and exams week, Natsu started calling her princess.

Lucy noticed it along with the increasingly elaborate doodles in her hot chocolate and the snow storms raging outside of Fairy Tail's tall windows. The winter was cold, and most days Lucy carried an extra scarf tucked alongside the notebooks in her bag.

She had her books out. Textbook open on the far edge of the table, her laptop propped up and a series of hand-written posted notes strewn hazardously. Outside, loose snowflakes cartwheeled down, sticking white fingers to the glass. Lucy had her hand on her chin; her pen skittering across her notebook in odd sentences, loose words, lax grammar that would be frowned upon if it weren't poem-writing. She was playing with her words, not putting down anything meaningful in particular, just plucking the occasional flyaway thought and twisting it into something pretty, something that rolled off the tongue in ringing syllables, something soothing to the ear.

 _Early we come,_

 _rain at my feet, the stars a shower of brilliance above, burning two hundred million light years away in gas and ice and flotsam._

 _Gravity snatches these planets in loose tendrils._

 _And you, you are my sun and I am the earth in your orbit._

 _Never static._

 _Swinging round and round and round._

"It's pretty," said a voice, a hot breath next to the shell of her ear. It was sudden and unexpected and Lucy shot up like a cat hosed down with ice water, one hand wielding her psychology textbook as if it was baseball bat, the other clutching the edge of the table. She swung wildly and felt the back cover connect.

A startled yelp. Natsu's voice erupted in a squeal. Lucy turned just to see him pinwheel backwards and grip the edge of a table for support.

She dropped the textbook.

" _Oh my God,"_ she spluttered. Although Natsu really shouldn't have been that close, hitting him square in the face was still a drastic overreaction on her part. She skidded out of her chair, the back legs screeching against the floor tiles, and hurried over to help him.

Natsu straightened slowly. He had a hand clasped over his nose. Did she break his nose? She sorely hoped she didn't break his nose, but the textbook was a heavy thing and Lucy hadn't exactly been holding back when she made the swing.

"I am so sorry," she said. "You were just—Close. Very close. Here, let me look at that." She reached out, fingers fluttering in the air. Natsu let his hand fall and Lucy was relieved to see that there was no damage done.

Well, the tip looked a little red, but apart from that it seemed alright.

"It's fine," he muttered, wearing a crooked grin. "Been in lot worse than that."

That was… a relief. Not the part about Natsu apparently being in numerous situations of probably illegal violence, which was vaguely disturbing and Lucy tried not to dwell on it, but that Natsu could probably categorize what was fine and what was not in terms of injury. Although… Lucy had been rather sure that she felt something connect. Huh.

"Just… are you sure?"

He was out of uniform, Lucy noticed, in track pants, a heavy red coat with a fur lined hood and a clean white scarf around his shoulders. She glanced up at the clock and found that yes, it was late, and it was also about time that Natsu finished his shift.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand. Squinted down at it until he went cross-eyed. "Yeah, yeah," he said, again. "No need to worry 'bout me, princess."

Her hands paused. "Princess?" she said slowly.

His face brightened. "Well yeah. You're blond and pretty and you write poetry," he gestured to her notebook, which was now face-down on the floor from her mad scramble. "And you smell like flowers most of the time." His nose twitched. "Orange blossoms?"

Lucy's knee-jerk reaction was to be just a tad disturbed. But then, if she was close enough to smell him, than clearly, he should be close enough to smell her. And even though they weren't exactly close, Lucy had a decent enough grasp of Natsu's character to know he was simply and earnestly stating what he experienced.

"Natsu's sense of smell is very sensitive," Mirajane chimed from across the room, as if she knew exactly what was transpiring instead of Lucy's head. "He gets motion sickness."

"Ah," commented Lucy. "But aren't princesses usually described as useless? Should I be offended?"

Natsu snorted. "Those are only the old stories," he told her, with emphasis on the _old_. "These days the royals actually do stuff, and you're training to be a doctor right? Then you're a kickass princess."

A kickass princess. Lucy liked the sound of that. "Then if this were a fairy tale," she said, going along with that train of thought. "And I were the kickass princess, than what would you be?"

His grin was wide and audacious, all teeth, the kind of grin Lucy had known to expect from Natsu after five months. He mimed placing something on his tongue and puffed out his cheeks, half-breathing half-hacking out what seemed a loose tendril of smoke. Lucy snorted at the display—it _was_ a cool trick though. And when Natsu dusted his hands on his pants and looked at her imploringly, she dissolved into a giggling fit.

"I," he proclaimed with all seriousness and quite a lot of bravado. "Am the dragon, of course."

* * *

Date First published: March 28 2016

 **End notes:** Tell me what you thought of this chapter, what you enjoyed, what you didn't. Thank you for reading!


	11. Outsides

11: Outsides

* * *

At twenty, Lucy was well-rehearsed with the ongoing clockwork of school. She had an apartment close to her university but closer to her favourite plaza, with a large kitchen she rarely used and an old cedar desk that once belonged to her mother. She finished all her assignments on time. She didn't contact her parents because she didn't have any, not anymore, but she wrote letters to her late mother and called Loke, her family-friend-slash-older-brother-slash-guardian-for-the-seven-months-before-Lucy-hit-eighteen twice a week. She kept herself well-fed and well groomed, chatted up her friends from high school on late nights and maintained a positive outlook for the future.

Loke visited every two weeks and insisted on using the balcony as an entrance even though Lucy's apartment was on the fifteenth floor. He came loaded down with plastic shopping bags: fresh fruit and fish, tubers and vegetables and colourful spice bottles nudging against one another for room. It was a known fact that Lucy couldn't cook anything more complicated than an omelette (baking she could do, using the stovetop not so much), and when Loke came over he would make her a nice dinner and ruffle her hair as if she were ten and not twenty.

* * *

Date first published: March 29, 2016


	12. Origins

12: Origins

* * *

The Heartphillia family was old money in that once upon a time, they had been aristocrats with their own land to govern, pheasants to tax, and knights that served them faithfully. They were also old money in that they did, in fact, run on old money. See, rewind some two hundred years and there had lived a man named Sir Allen Heartphillia, eccentric inventor and also the originator of the railways that ran through Fiore. His company was sprawling. His influence immense. And the pot of inheritance he had left behind meant that, with some common sense and the right investments, his descendants would never have to work again.

So when Jude Heartphillia, Allen's direct descendant, heir to his ancestor's sizable fortune and retired business mogul died a mere seven months before his daughter's eighteenth birthday, there had been quite the uproar.

What caused even more of an uproar was when Jude's will dictated that his daughter Lucy, the sole inheritor of his sizable number of estates and bank accounts, was to be placed under not the care of one of her distant relatives, but instead Loke d'Etoile until she turned eighteen and gained personal access to the family vaults.

* * *

Date first published: March 30, 2016

Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't. Thank you for reading!


	13. In Custody Of

13: In Custody Of

* * *

Jude Heartphillia had been both a smart man and a doting father. His wife Layla had succumbed to illness when his daughter was eleven years old, and he himself died a mere six years later, though to a different disease. Bedridden as he was, no one could ever say that Jude was not meticulous or unprepared. Even while his body deteriorated, his mind had been as agile and spinning as ever and he had quickly come to the conclusion that even for Lucy, with her razor-wire mind and natural charm, fending off the subtle machinations of her relatives while simultaneously finishing off her Very Important senior year of high school was a little too much.

In light of this, he handed her off to Loke, with Aquarius as the emergency backup if for whatever reason Loke was unfortunately unable to take the role. The man was clever and had experience with handling the landmines which made up the After Death High Society Who gets What Catfight, and more importantly he had zero interest in anything other than Lucy's happiness.

(Worst come to worst, Jude figured, at least Lucy would be too busy with school to unintentionally trigger Aquarius' lightning temper.)

* * *

Date first published: March 31, 2016


	14. Loke and Aquarius

14: In Which Loke and Aquarius take care of Family Matters

* * *

Following the reading of the will, Loke had first politely, then passive-aggressively, then motioned for backup and let Aquarius' lack of tolerance for all nonsense trample the conversation when the opposing party didn't understand the meaning of _no_. It was both impressive and slightly intimidating to watch. Loke was a benign person by nature, but when he got irritated his smiles went sharp and he sliced through the crowd like one of those large jungle cats on the prowl.

It was, Lucy figured, as Aunt Margaret's smile soured and turned brittle, also highly amusing. There was little threats or cajoling could do to Loke. He had connections everywhere and anywhere, whether it was amongst High Society or the hot dog stand at the end of the street.

And.

Well, Aquarius was terrifying no matter where you put her. Lucy caught her pleased, satisfied expression and felt a burst of pity for the unfortunate victims.

Loke gave a curt nod, a polite, affable smile to the middle-aged couple he had been conversing with. He strode towards Lucy with practiced steps, kissed her hand when he got close and looped an arm around her shoulder.

Lucy rolled her eyes hard. "Finished?"

"Very."

* * *

Date first published: April 1st, 2016


	15. Shipper on Deck

15: Shipper On Deck

* * *

Lucy's first impression of Erza was born from the campus rumour mill, whispers in awe of the disciplined, beautiful, prodigious second year law student. Her second impression was born in the library, when Lucy tried and failed to cram three anatomy textbooks into her bag but caught a glimpse of the famed Erza Scarlet outside of photographs for the first time, studying intently and looking every inch as regal as described.

Her third impression was when Jellal, the blue-haired, soft-spoken barista who took Fairy Tail's lunch shifts gave Erza what looked like a flower wreath (Lucy peeked out from her handy, hidden vantage point behind a textbook) and the woman went red as a pomegranate in all two seconds, clutching the wreath and seemingly a syllable away from a stutter.

Gently, Jellal took the wreath from Erza's hands and looped it over her head, the green of the leaves and the pale yellow of the flowers nestled prettily in Erza's hair—a flower crown. He smiled at her.

Lucy wanted to coo. It was _adorable_.

(Lucy's fourth impression of Erza steamrolled over the previous three and left a permanent, soul-deep impression of fear. But that's a story for another time.)

* * *

Date first published: April 2, 2016


	16. Shifts

16: Shifts

* * *

Natsu, Lucy knew, was prominently on shift weekday nights and sometimes the rare Saturday morning. He rarely took the lunch hours, which were left to either Jellal, who came in in the mornings or Gray, who worked late nights and early afternoons. Lucy had developed a habit of telling him to button up his shirt whenever she hobbled in at three p.m., desperate for a cappuccino to power through her coursework.

Mirajane, on the other hands, seemed to be a permanent, happy fixture at Fairy Tail. She was just… _always there_. Lucy didn't know how, only that catering seemed to run in the Strauss family. Her younger sister, Lisanna, worked at the Animal Soul Bakery three shops down, and although Elfman was shooting for a career in boxing he occasionally dropped by and helped with the pastries.

Mavis visited on the weekends. Her latte art was the most gorgeous thing, and the first time Mavis had taken her order Lucy had stared at her drink for a solid five minutes, afraid to touch the swirling cloud forest etched in foam.

"I don't have words," she blurted. Considering Lucy was very good at words, this was an alarming revelation.

Mavis beamed.

* * *

Date first published: April 3, 2016


	17. Questions

17: Questions

* * *

Fairy Tail was a popular establishment with a small rotation of staff and flexibly exchangeable hours. This meant that sometime during her half-year stay, Lucy had seen pretty much everybody be paired with everybody. Most of the baristas had their preferred times, but come push, emergency, or just looming exam week, the daily schedules could easily transform into a hectic whirlwind of people rushing in and out.

Well, Lucy amended. She had seen _almost_ everybody with everybody else.

She glanced at the counter.

Mirajane was humming softly to herself, arms folded neatly in front of her. "Mira," Lucy began. Mirajane blinked and offered her an encouraging smile, so Lucy plowed on. "Why are Natsu and Gray never on the same shift? I mean, their hours are close together." Belatedly, she added, "just wondering."

There must have been some hidden connotation in the topic that Lucy didn't know of, because Mirjane burst into chiming laughter.

"No," she giggled, shoulders trembling. "They _are_ allowed. But only Friday mornings. It's Erza's inspection time."

Lucy had an Ethics class Friday mornings. She wasn't exactly available.

"Come around then." There was a secretive smile in Mirajane's voice. "It's easier for you to see for yourself."

* * *

Date first published: April 4, 2016


	18. Answers

18: Answers

* * *

The answer came two weeks later. It was a Thursday. Mirajane was down with a nasty cold and Jellal was unavailable.

Lucy wished she had never asked.

Natsu and Gray got along the same way a suitably enraged cat got along with a suitably enraged dog. They were at each other's throats at every single available opportunity, ignoring customers and sabotaging one another's orders without regards for safety precautions. Lucy watched the regulars take bets while the evident non-regulars inched away.

Ten minutes in, Natsu "accidentally" tipped a cup of coffee onto Gray's pants. Gray slid a tray of ice cubes down Natsu's collar in retaliation.

Lucy looked upon all of this was a flat, resigned horror. She glanced at the half-finished story in her notebook, sighing.

Fifteen minutes in, Lucy unpeeled her forehead from the wooden tabletop to the sight of Erza striding through door with long, purposeful steps, mouth creased in a frown as she surveyed the demolition zone.

Her glare was _frightful_.

"What," she said, voice booming imperiously. Lucy watched as both Natsu and Gray recognized her presence and went from outraged to terrified in a split second and a distinctly shrill squeak. "Is going on here?"

* * *

Date first published: April 6, 2016


	19. Crash

19: Crash

* * *

Lucy's fourth impression of Erza was when she closed the distance between the front door and the counter in five long strides, grabbed the back of Natsu and Gray's collars as if they were unruly, impertinent little kittens, and slammed their skulls together so hard that an audible _crack_ sounded in the café.

Lucy winced and clutched her pen tighter. Gray and Natsu went down like they were filled with concrete instead of the water and carbon, limp and senseless as Erza dropped them onto the floor and made a show of dusting her hands.

She turned towards the rest of the café. The customers gave a very quiet _eep_ and inched away.

Lucy suspected a concussion for both of them—although Natsu had already shown his skull was thicker than most. A proper medical examination should have probably been in order; that crash sounded like it hurt _bad_. But… Erza.

Just Erza.

A tap on her shoulder. Lucy turned to see Cana, a fellow regular and liquor connoisseur who had once, according to Mirajane, been employed at Fairy Tail. The older woman offered her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry," she said. "This happens _all_ the time. Thought usually it's on Fridays."

* * *

Date first published: April 7th, 2016


	20. The Lights at Home

**Author's Notes** : Chapter Twenty is here! Introducing: Natsu's older brother Zeref, his cat Happy and Zeref's cooking.

* * *

20: The Lights at Home

* * *

The lights were already on when Natsu fumbled his way into the loft, house keys jingling in his pockets, one hand pressed against the ugly, blooming bruise at his temple. He eased the door behind him with a creak, slamming it shut and twisting the lock in one smooth motion.

Light, bright and sudden, reflective on the white tiled floors of the entrance stabbed tiny metal daggers at his eyes. Natsu squeezed his eyes shut and made a low, angry noise like a cat drowned in a puddle, mouth twisted in a grimace as the aching throb that had faded on his stagger back home from Fairy Tail returned with a cackling vengeance.

 _Ouch._

Damnit Gray.

Erza hit hard, harder than pretty much everyone Natsu knew apart from Gildarts and Igneel, and this time she had been livid enough to infuse her hands with Chi. Natsu had seen certain death looming just beyond the corner at her expression, the kind that flashed red and white stars and translated to pain bursting as ripe berries at the back of Natsu's throat. Erza that angry was known for busting entire buildings with her hands alone, and Natsu thanked whatever deities up there that that she couldn't equip her armour in populated areas. His only consolation was that Gray was equally, if not worse off at the moment _. And_ the freeze-brain's house was a good three miles further from the Café.

Natsu peeled off his shoes, dumping his backpack next to the plastic rack and trudging sluggishly to the living room. A sniff of the air told him that Zeref had already cooked, something sweet and spicy wafting from the small dining area. No take-out then, but at least it wasn't Natsu attempting to maneuver his way through the kitchen and ending up with a steaming pile of charcoal.

"Welcome home," Zeref's voice floated to the front entrance, soft and level as always. He was sitting cross legged on the couch, a garish owl mug balanced on his knee and a freshly opened, glossy paper-pack in his hands.

Natsu gingerly rubbed his temple and tried to pitch his voice into a semblance of cheer. Zeref was the type that tended to worry, and when he worried, he also tended to nag. There was a hundred percent chance forecast for an Erza-style lecture tomorrow morning. He didn't need Zeref hounding on him on top of that. "I'm back bro." Natsu padded inwards, the tile changing seamlessly to wooden floors. He eyed the spread of food on the dining table, roasted meats and vegetables and rice, all on matching plates of delicate, blue-green china because sometimes Mavis came over and Zeref wanted to impress. The cutlery was already set out neatly by the plates. Natsu reached for his chopsticks, eager to eat, he was _hungry_ , and froze as soft footsteps sounded.

"Wash your hands first Natsu." His brother's mouth was tilted up in a small, amused smile. He had his book tucked beneath his arm, dressed in the white T-shirt and gray track pants Zeref tended to substitute for pajamas.

"Yeah, yeah," Natsu grumbled. He shot the shorter boy an expression of over-exaggerated peevishness, but made a beeline for the sink anyway.

A chair scritched backwards. Natsu let the warm water run over his hands, swirling tiny, rainbow veined soap bubbles down the drain. He dried his hands on the towel, going back to the food, easing out his own chair, opposite of Zeref, and sat.

"Thank you for the food," Zeref started, clapping his hands together, as was the tradition of the humans. Natsu followed suit, the ring of it resounding in the otherwise quiet room.

"Thank you for the food," he repeated.

He was halfway through his second platter of pork (along with a generous helping of rice and the super sweet fried-egg-and-tomato-mix Zeref had piled onto the table) when Zeref, just barely finished his own first serving,, asked, very mildly, "Did you get into a fight with Gray again?"

The pork skittered down the wrong airway. Natsu hacked air, mouth twisting as he desperately tried to redirect the chunk of meat down the right tunnel. He opened his mouth wide, head tilted back until he was gazing at the white ceiling and—

A gout of flame, shimmering red at its edges and a silvery blue at its core shot out, huge and rearing. The tip of it skirted the ceiling, licking at white paint. It dimmed once, than exploded outwards, heat fanning the table cloth and curling around the light fixture. Natsu closed his mouth with a loud burp and frantic exhale, capping a firm lid on the fire. The sad remnants of the pork drifted to the table in a dust of black ash.

Zeref sighed. "Natsu…"'

"I didn't set anything on fire this time!" Natsu defended. He eyed the ceiling. No black marks. Good.

Zeref poked at his vegetables. "I can see that," he said. Then, moving back to the original topic, "please don't make too much trouble for the café." Natsu could feel the starting sentence of the Be More Careful Around Humans They're Delicate and Don't Give Fairy Tail Bad Press Lecture. Although why the latter part was necessary was beyond Natsu. The regulars would stay, as they always did, and that was enough. If the customers couldn't handle the heat than they couldn't handle it, period, and that wasn't even including the occasional stuck-up assholes (of whom Mavis had given them explicit permission to dump coffee on, Fairy Tail Baristas just didn't get told what to do. It wasn't in their rule book) that fled nose up in the air and tail between their legs whenever the order wasn't made on time or to their perfectionist needs. "It was kind of Mavis to hire you."

"My training is enough compensation," Natsu said, as he always did, and thought back to the Hell subtly disguise as learning to make a decent cup of coffee. "Arghh."

Zeref clinked his chopsticks against his plate and shot Natsu a disapproving look. Or, at least, the disapproving look of a disgruntled black kitten, because getting Zeref truly angry was difficult and ill-advised for anyone in a three-mile vicinity. "That took two months, Natsu," he clucked, in a what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you-tone, the one he tended to adopted after Natsu's particularly reckless stunts. "And we didn't make any progress until the second month and Erza took over in your training."

Well yeah. Having Erza peering over his shoulder four hours a day was enough motivation for Natsu to sprint straight to the moon. Actually, if he thought about it, sprinting to the moon was probably less painstaking than the gruelling month it had taken him to learn the art of etching images into coffee.

"But I got it in the end," Natsu said with a triumphant cackle. He had been stuck with Gray under Erza's thunderous eye for that entire month while Mavis flitted in and out of the shop and Mirajane smiled benevolently. But he had _succeeded_.

"Yes." There was a sigh in Zeref's voice. "Well, you did." A pause. He jabbed his chopsticks in the direction of Natsu's towering plate. "Eat your vegetables. I didn't go through the trouble of cooking for it to be thrown out."

Natsu considered his brother. "Let's get take out from the Chinese place tomorrow. Their dumplings are awesome."

"…Natsu."

"Zeref, your vegetables _suck_." To demonstrate, Natsu lifted a single, soggy piece of what looked like bok choy with his chopsticks and sniffed it warily. "Did you put pepper? Mirajane said you're not supposed to put pepper."

Swiftly, Zeref plucked the piece of vegetable from Natsu's chopsticks and dropped it in his own mouth. Chewed. Swallowed. "I'm experimenting." he emphasized the syllables defensively. "And you are not in fact five. Eat them. I ate them. They taste fine."

Natsu flashbacked to when he had last eaten one of Zeref's abominable kitchen creations—his brother was genius, sure, but the brains he put into creating ridiculously complicated spell work and runes just didn't translate into food expertise, not unless he was following recipes step by step—and promptly greened. Natsu could and had stomached a lot of generally inedible foodstuff in his lifetime. Zeref's absent minded, eye-ball-it-and-I'm-sure-it'll-turn-out-fine cooking were not very high on his edibility list.

"And you can't charcoal it," Zeref told him dryly. "It'll lose all nutritional value."

(In the end, he fed it to Happy, who had meandered from Natsu's room after a long nap, drawn to the scent of cooked meat. Natsu sneaked him the vegetables under the table along with pieces of pork roast. Happy would be fine. He was the primary taste-tester for most of Zeref's eldritch abominations and had developed immunity.)

* * *

"Also, Natsu?" Zeref was drying the dishes, wiping twice then pressing the fine ceramic into a fluffy orange towel, and finally stacking it neatly on the counter. Natsu blinked at him. A smattering of soap suds stuck to his cheek, curving down to his chin.

"Yeah bro?"

"There's been a… disturbance along the downtown districts lately." Zeref picked his words carefully. "Precht and Yuriy are already on it, but we're gathering a team to properly deal with them. Are you interested?"

Natsu halted, the rag he had been cleaning with dripped in tandem to the rapid, gearing screech that was his brain slamming into a brick wall. "Wait," he said, just in case he had heard wrong. Zeref's usual response to disruptive activity was compromise, not violence. Natsu's on the other hand… His pitch turned rambunctiously hopeful. "Does that mean I can—"

Zeref slammed up one hand in the universal gesture for halt. "The region is unscrupulous, not uninhabited."

"That's not a _no_. So I can set things on fire?" He bounced on the balls of his feet, mouth curling up into a wide, shark-like grin. "I can right? Right?" It had been an entire month since Natsu had been arbitrarily allowed to set anything fire, or bar that, just knock a building straight down from its foundations. Well he _could_ , but Erza was terrifying and paired with Zeref's expression of genuine disapproval, the consequences weren't worth the thrill.

"…Please do your best not to inflict casualties," Zeref exhaled. He swiped the edges of his plate with swift, distracted movements, turning it over and over into the drying cloth. "Erza will be there as well, so I recommend you behave yourself. Alright?"

Natsu wasn't listening. He was throwing his hands up and guffawing like a madman. Yes. Finally. It was fighting and it was going to be glorious. "FINALLY! FIRE!"

"Natsu…" Zeref's gaze was immensely long-suffering.

"Yeah, yeah. Got it Zeref. Don't get yourself so worried. It'll be _awesome_."

"…That's what I'm worried about, Natsu."

* * *

The day of the raid dawned bright and early, sunlight slanting through Fairy Tail's back door and landing squarely on the powder blue floor tiles. Natsu bounced down the streets, kicking up the slushy remnants of the gradually melting snow piles giving way to spring's first greens and violets. He tugged on his scarf, Igneel's gift of farewell and best wishes. He was, in fact, wearing his good clothes for this occasion. A black jacket, beige pants and sturdy boots, the articles that Zeref had specially commissioned to be indestructible unless the heat came straight from the Earth's lower mantle, magma searing hot enough to press solid crust into liquid stone.

The others were already in attendance when Natsu arrived. There was Laxus, leaning against the edge of the granite countertop, his fur-lined coat draped over his shoulders, eyes surveying the rest of the gathering with a kingly imperiousness. There was Erza, with her hair pulled up in a tight tail, fiddling absently with her combat gloves, a thin, ornate handled sword at her waist. And finally Jellal, dressed in dark clothing, a large bag slung over his shoulder. Natsu gave all three of them a wave hello, and stepped inside for the debriefing.

* * *

Date first published: April 8th 2016

 **Endnotes:** You guys have been amazing and super-generous with all the reception this story is getting. Just-Wow. Especially since this is basically a drabble series. And we're at chapter twenty now and I should really be inching the romance forwards.

(We'll be getting somewhere by Chapter thirty. Maybe. The next five chapters are basically just Fairy Tail dorks kicking ass though.)

Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't. Thank you for reading! :)


	21. Details

21: Details

* * *

Jellal unrolled a series of maps and diagrams onto the huge oak table they were gathered around, pointing a ball point pen at the intersections marked in bright red sharpie. "Here," he tapped one particularly bold X near the edge of the waterline, near the docks. "This is their current base of operations. It's not their main one, but it's the biggest we've managed to locate so far."

The Oracion Seis, as they called themselves, were a supremely illegal drug smuggling operation that Mavis had been attempting to track down for _months_. They were slippery and had at least one confirmed information specialist in their midst, hence how they had managed to get away every single time, even if it was by the skin of their necks. Their wares were illicit. At least three quarters were also magical—unicorn blood, mermaid scales and hair, illusionary drugs and ardour potions—which was why Mavis was dialing her Side Town contacts instead of leaving a tip at the local police station.

"We're going to surround them," Jellal continued, drawing a quick circle. "Diversion from the east, move in and engage. The others are already on the scene. We follow Mavis' attack route."

* * *

Date first published: April 8th, 2016


	22. Snare

22: Snare

* * *

There was, of course, the slim chance that this was in fact a trap meant to bait Magnolia's resident Magical enforcers into the open. But between the two of them, Cana and Loke were both brutally efficient and highly accurate in their sources. Pair that with Mavis and Zeref's personal supervision of this case, and the very thought that any information had slipped through the net was preposterous.

Freed was waiting for them at the edge of the harbour, his long green hair a beacon next to the steely transportation ships. The docks were busy and crowded. Fishermen flung nets into sea and labourers hauled crates from the warehouses.

These were Mavis' illusions, Natsu knew, because Freed's rune barriers were virtually impenetrable and civilian casualties were against Fairy Tail policy. Honestly, Zeref was being worried for nothing. It wasn't as if Natsu was going to turn the docks into a lava pool.

The Oracion Seis were getting ready for something big, something ambitious: enough that they were forgoing their usual, untraceable transportation routes. It was a risky move. High stakes, high reward. And Mavis had called in the best to prove that their gamble wasn't going to land this time.

* * *

Date first published: April 10th 2016


	23. Raid

23: Raid

* * *

Natsu was the diversion.

There was the faintest tinge of indignation at being assigned that specific post, but in the end it also meant he got to set buildings on fire. Besides, considering that it was their precious cargo filled warehouses he was currently wrecking, Natsu was sure that at least one or two of the goons would be bee lining straight for him. It was a win-win situation.

The wind whipped through his hair, bringing with it the taste of sea brine, crystalline on his tongue. A spark of flame, the flare of the sun just beneath his skin, volcanoes and magma and the heat of the Earth's core. Natsu drew upon this, his dragon heritage. He let his senses sharpen, and, with a towering intake of air—

 _"_ _Fire Dragon's roar!"_

-There was a crash, the sound of glass shattering, metal and concrete rubble caving in on itself with an ear-splitting screech. The flames licked at the sides of the demolished building, fanning higher and higher into a raging bonfire.

The intercom crackled. There was a dully unimpressed snort from the other side—Laxus, that asshole—and then Jellal's soft murmur pushed him aside.

"All units in position?"

* * *

Date first published: April 11, 2016


	24. Cobra

24: Cobra

* * *

Mavis' calculations were accurate, as always.

Natsu sat amongst the remnants of the rubble, his fire curling in thick plumes around him, head cocked for the slightest bit of movement. In the distance, the familiar tang of wafting ozone and the searing crackle that was Laxus' lightning rained down over the sea. Further west, Jellal's magic circles layered higher and higher, rebounding and gaining momentum for a finishing blow.

Rubble crunched. The swish of a long coat brushed fallen metal.

"Well, well," said the man, and Natsu flipped to his feet. His hair was a mess of dark red spikes, falling over pointed ears that marked him as _other._ He smelt—toxic. Rotting earth and dregs of water polluted not with human waste but the natural droughts: decay, poison, the great snakes that had once resided in Igneel's mountains.

And to put the nail in the coffin, there was indeed a giant snake wrapped around his shoulder. It was blindingly purple and clearly venomous even without the tell-tale scent.

He smelt of the wyverns.

"Dragon huh?" the man ambled closer, seemingly unconcerned. "It's been a while since I've met one of you."

Natsu rocketed forward and punched him in the face.

* * *

Date first published: April 12, 2016


	25. Accidents

25: Accidents

* * *

There was a straight week where Natsu was absent from the café. The first three days, Lucy thought nothing of it. Natsu had a life outside of work, and even if the substitute barista looked like he belonged in a gang (with the scar and the holier-than-thou attitude), it didn't damage Fairy Tail's cheerful atmosphere or her work efficiency.

Then came day four, and Jellal staggered in for his usual Tuesday lunch shift, bandaged and pale and looking as if he had fallen off the side of a mountain.

Lucy gaped. She screeched out of her chair and rushed over, nearly sending her mug crashing to the floor in her haste. She liked Jellal, he was thoughtful and calming and seriously pretty—and also seriously taken—and she knew him well enough to know that he wasn't the type to randomly get into a brawl.

"Are you—" _are you all right_ didn't seem appropriate. He certainly didn't look alright. Lucy clicked her mouth shut and settled for an awkward, "What happened?" instead.

Jellal grimaced, the carmine tattoo on the side of his face even more prominent in contrast to the papery pallor of his skin. "Car accident." He explained.

* * *

Date first published: April 13, 2016


	26. Bandages

26: Bandages

* * *

"Oh my God." Lucy bit her bottom lip, surveying Jellal over. The man's leg was up in a sturdy cast, and although Fairy Tail's uniform covered most areas of skin, Lucy could see the flash of white bandages at his wrists, the veins of his hands pale and blue from where he was gripping his crutches. "You shouldn't be moving around. Or at work. When was this? Usually they don't discharge you this early especially since you look like-"she gestured at him, and his pained, twitching winces. "You'll going to fall over."

"That's exactly what I told him." Erza swept through the doors, her book bag over her shoulder and, much to the chagrin of Lucy's fraying rapidly nerves, also bandaged. White wrapped around her forehead, down to the side where her right eye was. Her ankles were taped and her hair swished in a spill of deep red down her back. If it was any consolation, Erza still looked a lot better than Jellal. "You should go to bed for the next week and stay there."

Personally, Lucy thought that Jellal needed a lot more than a week.

"Wait. Did you two get in the same car accident?"

* * *

Date first published: April 14 2016


	27. Recovery

27: Recovery

* * *

Erza's pain threshold, Porlyusica had said, was immense, stratospheric, and a very liable hazard to her health if she _kept on plowing you stupid girl do you want to end up at an early grave?_ Jellal's was less impressive, solely for the fact that the necessary circumstances needed for Jellal to get an injury in the first place was incredibly unlikely.

Unless he was doing something stupid.

Erza counted getting smacked at point blank with Brain's specialty destructive circles as stupid, even if it was so that the explosion couldn't detonate the poison gas bombs littered throughout the area.

And now the idiot was adamant about coming to work, even though his injuries were only half-healed and he should have been more worried about his missed classes.

Even _Natsu_ was being smarter, which wasn't saying much. The boy had exhausted his magic to the very last dregs and toppled, somewhere between asleep and unconscious as soon as they had left the perimeters. He'd woken up yesterday and unceremoniously been placed under house arrest by his older brother, along with a towering heap of fire and enough meat to satisfy a pack of wolves, or in this case, a mid-recovery Natsu.

* * *

Date first published: April 15th 2016


	28. Back to Work

28: Back to Work

* * *

When Lucy came into Fairy Tail Friday evening, Natsu was behind the counter, taking the slight lull in customers to fold paper airplanes out of the day's newspaper. His head jerked up at the sound of the bell and he waved, smile cheery as Lucy entered.

"Yo Princess! How're you doing today?"

Lucy regarded him.

There was a band aid on his cheek, but apart from that there were no other signs of injury on his person. His movements were smooth and swift as he straightened and mimed throwing one of his numerous, neatly piled airplanes at her hair.

Lucy was, in fact, beginning to think that there was something possibly illegal going on behind the scenes. For example: gangs, or smuggling, or maybe she was just low on sleep and her imagination was working overtime again.

"I'm good." She paused. "Well, as good as I can be with three hours of sleep, anyway. What about you?"

"Feeling chipper!"

"I can see that." He was practically vibrating with poorly contained energy, bouncing up and down. Lucy made her way to the front, barely looking at the display case as she ordered. "Can I have a sugar spice cake today?"

"Sure!"

* * *

Date first published: April 16th 2016


	29. The Problem

29: The Problem

* * *

The smell, Lucy realized, once she had advanced within two feet of Natsu, was incredibly potent.

It was thick and cloying, a heavy, hazy fruitiness that bogged down on her tongue and made Lucy brace her hands against the stone counter. It was dense incense and charred pinewood and Lucy's own disastrous kitchen creations, such as the one time she had accidentally left the stove on while studying and nearly burned down her apartment complex. Natsu smelt as if he had rolled through a coal bed. Just—belly flopped straight onto one, and then made a beeline for Fairy Tail without taking a shower in between.

Overall, it was noxious. And more than a little unpleasant.

For the most part, Lucy had been ignoring it. Well, less ignoring and more studiously tuning the implications away, because Natsu usually didn't smell this bad and smoking was…

Smoking was bad. Okay.

Now, to communicate this without sounding overbearing.

"Natsu…" she started, hesitant "Smoking is… it increases your chances of lung cancer and heart disease, and because it's so expensive as well it's a poor lifestyle choice. I think everyone has their reasons behind their addictions but…"

Natsu blinked at her owlishly. "…Heh?"

* * *

Date first published: April 17th 2016


	30. A Series of Misunderstandings

**Author's Notes:** A nod to the wonderful SunflowerChrysalis, who took part in editing this chapter when it refused to agree with me. Thank you so much! :)

* * *

30: A series of Misunderstandings

* * *

After two minutes of practically reciting her textbook word for word, Lucy had gained the dawning understanding that subtlety just wasn't going to cut it with Natsu. The man had peered at her with befuddled incomprehension before brightening and, much to Lucy's chagrin, exclaiming:

"Oh! Got it!" he snapped his fingers for punctuation. "You have a test again, right? Want me to help you study? My brother says that saying things aloud helps with the memorization process, but I swear that guy has photographic memory or something," he made an angry gerbil face at this, hands drawing wild, swooping shapes in the air. "I've never seen him need to memorize anything in his life. Well, apart from cake recipes, but he messes those up with or without the cookbook in front of him."

Lucy halted mid-way into her lecture, somewhere between describing how the complications of being an addict—any addict—could have on a person's life style and life expectancy. Her mouth was open; she realized belatedly, because she was floundering, because _what kind of response was that?_ Lucy shut it with a soft click of her teeth and studied Natsu's face for any signs of misdirection.

There were none. Natsu had an open face, with big, dark eyes and a toothy grin. He was a terrible liar, Lucy knew from observation, so that could only mean one thing… he honestly believed Lucy was regurgitating all this information in preparation for a future exam.

"Right," Lucy said slowly. "Okay." She took the handle of her hot chocolate and the spice cake, retreating back to the usual table by the window side as the petite, blue-haired girl behind her started rapid-firing her order.

* * *

"Okay," Lucy repeated. Her laptop was propped up to her left and a new, blank journal page sat squarely in front, the nib of her ballpoint pen pressing a dark blue ink splotch on the first ruled line. Tertiary education had taught her to plan, solely due to necessity. With the tangled spiderweb of due dates and assignments, Lucy had learned to multi-task and organize all of her daily routines into something that resembled coherency so that she could cram in four hours of sleep along with her rigid studying schedule.

At the top of the page, she let her pen fly.

Lucy needed a plan, because subtlety wasn't going to cut it with Natsu's dense personality but full on assault was a big red _Incorrect_ when dealing with patients of any kind. And it really wasn't her style anyway.

But failure was not an option. Helping Natsu, Lucy realized, had become a somewhat personal mission.

First _._ She had to get him to acknowledge the problem.

* * *

She went to the library. Magnolia's central library was a huge, towering structure with turrets and stone walls and the architectural make of a medieval castle, just gutted and completely remodelled on the inside. It smelt of old leather, dust notes at the corners, the familiar, comforting scent of paper, fresh and new, and the rows of ink that marched through the pages of the tombs. There were four floors in total. Hundreds of shelves wound through in a plastic-metal labyrinth, and on those shelves sat rows and rows of books, stacked neatly, sometimes stacked not so neatly, in the haphazardous fashion that bespoke of college students with too little time and an ocean of material to wade through.

Lucy navigated the towering interior with the ease that whispered _second home_ , and at the checkout, along with her usual novels and a recipe book for desserts, slid " _Easy Way to Stop Smoking" a_ cross the pressure pad.

Her second stop was the Fairy Tail café, which was conveniently on route to her apartment complex. Lucy started up her car, and, mindful of the weekend traffic, carefully navigated the roads until Fairy Tail's double doors came into view.

She dug the book out as Natsu handed her a latte, complete with a cute, lopsided flower and a cartoon bee buzzing in the white cream.

"Here." She held it out to him. The smell was fainter today, but still present. Lucy breathed through her mouth and tried to pitch her voice towards a semblance of normality as Natsu plucked the paperpack from her fingers, reading the title with one raised eyebrow.

"Um…" he turned towards her, and his eyebrows were knitted down, the dent in his brow and a downwards tug at the corner of his mouth that communicated his confusion. "… Thanks?"

Lucy stalled, because she wasn't exactly sure of what to say either. In the end, she settled for clutching her latte to her chest and shooting him a bright, if awkward smile. "Put it to good use!"

Natsu tucked the book beneath the register. The bewilderment wasn't fully gone yet, evident in his wide eyes. But when he drew a sharp salute his grin was as cheerful as always, a flash of white canines showing beneath pink lips.

"Gotcha gotcha. See you later than?"

"Later," Lucy confirmed, averting her gaze on the research papers at hand. She took her banana bread muffin and capitulated to the side, away from the frenzy of Saturday afternoon customers, the irritated, frazzled workers and students ready to claw their way to caffeine if she took any longer at the counter.

* * *

Wednesday evening came. Lucy had a total of three biochemistry reports and four hours of sleep in the last three days, and when she entered Fairy Tail it was with a motion too graceless to be called a stagger and too upright to be called a crash. Across the room, Mirajane took one look at her and, after ducking beneath the display cases, slid a slice of chocolate pie across the counter.

She was, Lucy acknowledged with the distant, functioning part of her mind, dressed as impeccably as always. The woman's hair was up, and the dark grey uniform skirt twirled at her knees. She looked _stellar._ Lucy really wanted to know what kind of skin-care routine Mirajane was using, but it was late and coherency was escaping Lucy's sleep starved brain in twisted, watery loops.

"Natsu!" Mirajane whirled on her heel, and Natsu, whom Lucy blearily recognized as the pink haired blob slumped over the left counter jolted to attention so fast it was as if Erza was personally in the room for her weekly inspection. His shoulders went rigid. He did a frantic hop-jump. Then there was the sound of something toppling to the floor, the clatter of coins colliding across the tiles.

"I'M U—Oh shit—OW."

Natsu's voice cut off into a pained, high squeak. He clutched his knee (probably banged it on his way up, a clinical voice noted) turned and then dropped down to clean up the spill.

Mirajane cupped her cheek and let loose a soft, exasperated sigh.

Mirajane's pies sold out in approximately five minutes after a fresh one was baked. They were delicious and beautifully decorated and, according to Cana, made with some obscure French recipe that guaranteed a perfect balance of flavour, one hundred percent of the time. Lucy made a grabby motion for the square, cream-china plate, hands outstretched. When in lack of coffee, look for sugar, as the saying went. It wasn't healthy, by any regards, but Lucy was pursuing a career in the medical field. There were sacrifices to be made for success.

"It's on the house this time," Mirajane informed her. She placed a fine, silvery fork onto the plate. "You should get some more sleep, Lu-chan."

"Eurgg," gurgled Lucy.

"Coffee's done!" bellowed Natsu. One of the few customers inside at this hour jerked upwards from his newspaper, giving him the stink eye.

"Thanks," rasped Lucy. It was semi-intelligent and actually understandable. Lucy counted this as progress.

"Also," Natsu began, sliding into spot next to Mirajane as Lucy cut into her pie with jerky, undead-movements. "I looked into that book you gave me. And it worked. See?"

Momentarily ignoring him, Lucy took a gulp of the coffee set on the counter, sighing contently as the liquid burned down her throat. It was hot but not hot enough to singe, and the dregs of cream and sugar gave her a well-needed boost in calories.

That was a quarter of the drink already gone. Lucy sheared another chunk of pie off with her fork and plopped it into her mouth, closing her eyes and smiling as the rich chocolate filling and crunchy cookie crust melted on her tongue.

 _So tasty._

"Yo Princess?"

Natsu had produced the book, _the how to quit smoking guide_ , and now the cover was glaring up at her from the counter.

Lucy squinted at it. She bit down her hard on the fork in her mouth, tasting the metal, and tried to unscramble the haze of disjointed memories from the past few minutes.

"… wait." The clouds cleared, and the words registered themselves into the allotted locations. Lucy stared down. "Pardon me?"

"I said it helped," Natsu had his arms crossed across his chest. "I mean. I didn't really get what the heck it meant, but Mavis said something about me smelling weird, and it was that right? 'Cuz it would've been pretty embarrassing if it weren't." He paused and stared at her. Lucy nodded, glacier-slow, and Natsu took this as indication to continue. "But yeah. Apparently, herbal extracts erase the smoke smell."

Erase the smoke smell, he said. The puzzle pieces of the conversation weren't fitting together as well as Lucy had originally thought, because that was a quit smoking manual and Natsu had taken it to… _erase the smell._ It was like a jigsaw with a third of the pieces from the wrong box. Or maybe that was just Lucy's brain doing increasingly nonsensical acrobatics.

She tried to start from the beginning. Get all the facts right and all that. "Did you read it?"

"First two pages!" said Natsu, sounding momentously proud of this accomplishment.

Lucy took another chug of her coffee.

Okay.

It was time for a better question. "Natsu…" Lucy hedged. This was going to be slightly insensitive and painfully blunt. At point, Lucy wasn't lucid enough to examine her actions at all angles, or, for that matter, at _any_ angle. "Natsu… Smoking isn't good for your health. And while going cold-turkey isn't the best way to quit, covering up the smell isn't going to deal with the problem."

Having succinctly stated her thoughts in a full, grammatically accurate sentence, Lucy decided to celebrate with another bite of pie.

Natsu stared at her blankly. His expression had gone curiously slack for a second, in the way that signalled a complete lack of comprehension to the sounds he was hearing.

"Eh?"

"The smoking, Natsu."

"… Eh?"

Lucy snuck a look sideways. Mirajane's shoulders were trembling noticeably. She had a hand slapped over her mouth, her eyes creased with mirth.

Okay. So. Something was decidedly off about this conversation.

Tentatively, she asked. "…You're not a smoker?"

"I smoke?"

Her heart was doing an odd-flip flop, the frantic, jolted beats of a pinned butterfly's wings. The kind of rhythm Lucy knew built up from a concussion of terrible, dawning horror and embarrassment. "…You don't?"

There was a stretching, rigid silence.

"Um…. No? I mean. Grey _used_ to smoke. And he's kind of the only one that used to. He doesn't anymore. And after what Erza did to him I don't think anyone's going to go within a mile of cigarettes ever."

Idly, Lucy stared down at her pie. The burning mortification hadn't quite caught up with her lethargy just yet, but Lucy was certain that once she had a decent night of sleep and full possession of her higher mental functions, the urge to crawl under her covers and never come out again would be very strong indeed.

Although, it wasn't as if she could embarrass herself any further, and considering that Natsu was acknowledging its existence himself…

"Then what's with the smell?" Lucy blurted.

* * *

Date first published: April 18th, 2016

 **End Notes:** Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't. Thanks for reading guys!


	31. Cooking Disaster

31: Cooking disaster

* * *

"Er," said Natsu. The lines of his shoulders were shifting nervously now, fingers pressing dark indents onto the fabric of his uniform. "Well." He stalled. "Um. There is this… kitchen. And my brother. And none of us can cook."

Lucy eyed him.

… That was the best he could come up with?

Her tone, when she spoke, was dryer than the Arctic wind in mid-winter. "So you've managed to burn your food every other day."

Natsu smiled a wobbly, distinctly uncomfortable smile.

"Um—"

"For the past _eight months_."

"About that—"

Lucy looked him straight in the eye. Like it or not he was Lucy's friend and Lucy's problem, and what kind of up and coming doctor would she be if she allowed the people in her daily life to succumb to the likes of cigarettes? "…Are you sure you don't want to rethink that answer?"

"Er… no?" he said. "Look. Between me and Zeref though, we've had to repaint the ceiling more times than we can count. Fire scorches don't look good on white."

Lucy's prior mortification was ebbing away to a flat, apathetic incredulousness. "I see."

She pushed the book towards him again. "Read that over. F _ully_."

* * *

Date first published: April 20 2016


	32. Uninvited Houseguests

32: Uninvited House Guests

* * *

Aquarius had made herself a very nice mug of tea when Lucy came home, monopolizing Lucy's fluffy, white trimmed couch and delicately dining on Lucy's stash of Belgian chocolates. She had a bottle of nail polish out, some shining, pretty shade of blue with a handful of silver sparkles swirling inside, the brush tipped precariously over the edge of the nearby side table.

Lucy had the adequate preservation instincts not to argue against Aquarius, ever (sometimes, she made offended squawking noises of protest, but those were rare and garnered a truly pretentious sniff back in return), so, upon pouring herself a cup of hot tea from the still-steaming kettle, she shuffled back to the living room and sank down into the soft cushions, with only a bleary grunt to acknowledge Aquarius' presence.

"You look like shit." Aquarius' mouth screwed into a disdainful twist. Lucy mumbled something unintelligible back.

The woman swiped another chocolate from the tray and finished it in two, prim, tiny bites. As always, her table manners were a stark contrast to her frankly brutal personality.

A sip of tea, then she turned to Lucy, swinging one leg over the other.

"So what's got you in a cinch?"

* * *

Date first published: April 21 2016


	33. Rant

33: Rant

* * *

Opening up to Aquarius was easy. In an adequate mood, Aquarius was a decent conversationalist, even if her listening skills were rusty, and her feedback waned between the ranges of "beat them up" and "kick some sense into them." Lucy had known Aquarius for longer than the cabinet of her memories stretched backwards, as constant a presence as oxygen in the air and the stars at night. Callous as her words were, they were comforting and grounding in their familiarity.

So Lucy ranted, letting the day's events stream out of her, and Aquarius made scathing comments in all the places she deemed appropriate.

"And he just—cooking. Oh my god Aquarius. Cooking. I mean, I know what it's like to the entire house covered by smoke, but it's been months and what kind of excuse is that? I'm worried about him. He's sweet, bless his pink head and delicious coffee and I feel like it's a personal thing now." Lucy chewed the bottom of her lip, teeth scraping the chapped edges as Aquarius finished painting her right hand and settled the brush back into its bottle. "I just— _arggh_ ," she breathed out a sigh of frustration. "And I need sleep."

* * *

Date first published: April 22 2016


	34. Dropping Bombs

34: Dropping Bombs

* * *

Aquarius paused, expression suddenly tight and narrowed. " _Pink hair._ Wait. Works at Fairy Tail. Fire hazard Natsu?"

Lucy startled. "You know him?"

"Zeref Dragneel's baby brother Natsu?"

"Yes— _wait._ Did you just say Zeref Dragneel?"

"Obviously."

Lucy turned the words over in her mind, sat on them, pried apart the sticky threads gluing the letters together with the rusted fingers of a sluggish brain. Her thoughts were suddenly, startlingly lucid in their completion, as if jolted with ice-water.

"What," she said, voice cresting to a screech. "WHAT?"

"There aren't that many people who would name their children _Zeref_." Aqaurius' tone was cutting. "Honestly, if you have a brain at least put it to good use."

Lucy ignored her in light of this new, world-toppling information. "Are you sure—"

 _"_ _Quite_."

Her tone brooked no discussion.

Zeref Dragneel was an award winning author, a scholar and an academic who wrote everything from children's fairy tales to critical, thought provoking pieces on the reason behind existence. His prose was impeccable. His perspective was unique, broad and enrapturing. He was Lucy's role model.

"At least that explains the smell," Aquarius murmured idly, nose wrinkling. "The little shit's not smoking, girlie. He's part dragon."

* * *

Date first published: April 24 2016


	35. Post revelation

35: Post Revelations

* * *

Lucy processed Aquarius's words the same way other people processed potentially life-altering revelations. She stared for all two seconds as her brain rebooted, snapping backwards like a rubber band pulled too taunt, and then let out an unholy screech.

"Quiet down," Aquarius commanded, scowling even harder.

Lucy did not quiet down.

"What." She said, and it came out shrill and high and borderlining panic. "What. Huh?"

"You're not usually this… stupid," Aquarius observed. It would've been a compliment (the special type native only to Aquarius) if not for her absolutely derisive tone.

Lucy stared at her. The tea jostled in its cup, lapping over the ceramic lip and splattering wetly over Lucy's hand and sleeve. "You just told me that he was part dragon." This was a very good basis for a freak out. "A goddamned dragon, Aquarius. _What in blazes."_

"Very eloquent," came the dry reply.

"Dragon."

"We've gone over this," Aquarius's gaze was long suffering. "Your mother went over this with you, as did Loke. You would've thought that it would be old news by now."

"We've gone over me and my family and—" Lucy flailed wildly at the woman sitting on her couch. "Not—dragon!"

* * *

April 25, 2016


	36. Memoirs

36: Memoirs

* * *

Growing up, Aquarius was the most beautiful person Lucy had ever known.

There was her mother, of course, but Layla's beauty was a softer thing: drawn in golden lines and soft, pale skin and the gliding steps in which she moved in. She was a crisp spring breeze, fresh berries in the height of summertime, and Lucy loved her with all her heart. The thing was, in terms of grandiose magnificence, there was no one that could possibly trump Aquarius.

There were pictures of her littered all over the mansion they had inhabited. Shining blue hair a cascade of ocean water down her back (and when Lucy was very, very young, Aquarius would let her play with it, weaving fat braids with toddler-fingers). Dark, river stone eyes. Precious gems at her throat and metal bangles jingling at her wrists. There were the coloured photos, all high quality, pictures of Aquarius and Layla and Lucy. And then there were the ones that dated backwards, from black and white pictures of Layla as a child and Aquarius, every inch as youthful and regal, standing behind her, all the way to caricatures crafted in deft paint and brush from hundreds of years ago.

* * *

Date first published: April 26 2016


	37. Stories

37: Stories

* * *

Layla taught her daughter in stories.

Along with the classic Shakespearean works, Lucy's childhood had been filled to the brim with fairytales. Not the white laminate children's books of course, but those hidden away in dusty tombs, behind cracking leather covers. These were two parts grim mystique and one part warning. They spun tales of witches that resided in forests that lead nowhere, sirens that could place entire towns under thrall, glittering hoards guarded by zealous, ancient dragons. They taught about gods, and demons, and men. Lucy would sit on her mother's knees and listen, wide-eyed, over cookies and tea.

(Perhaps this wasn't the best idea though. Reality and fantasy are often blurred, and Lucy, precocious as she was, didn't come to the realization that most little girls did not, in fact, have magical, immortal, water-controlling aunt-figures until she was eight. The sudden awareness came with a kidnapping, and after the missive had been sent it took approximately five minutes for Aquarius to splash into the room from the meager water tray and bring a literal tsunami down on the unfortunate crooks.)

The tale that Layla recited most though, the one Lucy had been most enthralled by, goes like this:

* * *

Date first published: April 27, 2016


	38. Angels in her Blood

38: Angels in her Blood

* * *

Once upon a time, and this is a story as old as the eons, as timeless as the stars themselves, there was a Celestial warrior. Once upon a time, there was a great, benevolent queen who presided over the heavens, who had twelve devoted servants named after the sky's most prominent constellations. They were the Zodiacs, from the Aries to Pisces, and they bound themselves to her by a set of golden keys. Should the queen find herself in a time of need, all she needed was to call their name, and they would be summoned to her side.

A sweep of her hand could bring life to barren deserts. She purified the lakes, the streams, the oceans. When she laughed the world welcomed spring. Starlight bloomed in her footsteps, and her kindness filled broken hearts.

They called her the greatest of the Celestials.

The heavens loved her, and she, graceful and dazzlingly beautiful, loved them in return.

Once upon a star, there was a queen, an angel. Her name was Anna, and she was blessed by the gifts of the heavens.

Her name was Anna, and when she came down to Earth she fell in love with a human man.

* * *

Date first published: April 27 2016


	39. Out by the window

39: Out by the Window

* * *

Aquarius left by the balcony. Of course she did.

Lucy watched as the spirit swung a leg over the metal railing, dangling her vivaciously red pumps from one hand, fingers twirled around the shimmering silver straps. Why was it that Loke and Aquarius couldn't leave by the front doors like regular, law-abiding citizens, Lucy didn't know, but from the tidbits she had gleamed off of Loke's explanations it involved security, the long wait for the elevator, and the fact that if one could saunter up the side of a high rise building, than one _should_ saunter up the side of a high rise building.

The night was a spread of black velvet beyond, twinkling with a handful of white stars. Aquarius threw the rest of her weight over into empty air, putting a spin to her movements as her foot touched down and she strode brazenly towards the labyrinth of the inner city. It was always a marvel, seeing Loke and Aquarius do things like this. Lucy wasn't sure of the exact mechanics of it, just that if they wished so, her two spirits could become weightless, untouched by the laws of gravity that governed the rest of the world.

* * *

Date first published: April 28 2016


	40. Breathe

40: Breathe

* * *

It was light outside when Lucy slipped through the front doors of her apartment Monday morning, the sky above clear and blue, fading into a pastel ribbon as it extended into the distance. In the east, the sun was just beginning to rise. Knolls of thin cloudcover skimmed the tops of the high-rise buildings, curling pale wisps against the mountainous backdrop. Lucy spied a wafer of the moon, just a thin, transparent white dime not yet gone from daylight, dangling prettily above her head.

The April weather was alarmingly chilly this year, crisp and bitter against her cheeks. Lucy tucked a soft scarf around her shoulders as she walked; bag slung over one shoulder and the heels of her flats clicking briskly on the sidewalk.

She needed time to think. It was very important. Lucy had been putting off the whole part-dragon-revelation for the better part of three days, mainly do to a series of very close deadlines and the sleep deprivation that came hand to hand with those deadlines. Now though, she was refreshed and had scored a much appreciated seven hours of uninterrupted rest.

And Natsu was part-dragon.

Lucy wasn't very sure what to make of that.

It explained quite a lot, if she thought about it. His sense of smell, the truly befuddling rate of recovery, the cling of smoke that dogged his steps like a shadow, and the numerous parade of dragon-jokes featured in their banter.

But still. Dragon.

It was, she figured wryly, a lot to take in.

She passed the park, letting her footsteps meander along the road, slow and thoughtful as she carded through her thoughts. Lucy's neighbourhood was a decent one, relatively high class. It was close to both the shopping and artist's district, wrought with colourful graffiti decorating the walls and the constant bustle of commuters, wrapped up in sweaters and light jackets and making a beeline for their respective workplaces.

She breathed in. Breathed out. Her breath fogged in a mist of pale, unfurling condensation.

By the time Lucy completed an entire loop around the block, it was seven thirty and Fairy Tail had been open for business for an entire hour. Jellal was on shift, still looking a little ashen at the edges but not nearly as bandaged as he had been two weeks ago. It made Lucy wonder, just what he was. Because along with the dragon bomb Aquarius had also, very nonchalantly, dropped the fact that "oh you know, Fairy Tail's a base for the Magnolia _Other_. Come on girly, you had have noticed _something_ was off," Onto Lucy's already stuttering brain.

"Good morning," the man called, smiling slightly at Lucy as he attended to the old, pale haired lady at the counter. Behind him, Lucy caught the sight of green hair, tied up in a ponytail, and deft hands folding a quick, precise sandwich.

The old lady walked off. Lucy squinted at the swish of long hair. It was silken and shining and very, very pretty, and she kind of wanted to rake her fingers through it.

Jellal followed her gaze and tipped his head towards the owner.

"That's Freed," he explained. "Have you met him?"

"No," said Lucy. She fidgeted with the strap of her bag. "Is he new?"

"Hot chocolate, extra cream, and a chicken tomato pita bread wrap?" Jellal asked first, and at Lucy's nod of consent, he slid out a plate and the wrap onto the counter, before continuing with, "In a way. Mavis hires him when we're short on staff, and Mirajane's going to be out of town for the next week." He shrugged a shoulder in Freed's direction. "So we're in need of some quick hands right now."

"Ah," said Lucy. And just when she thought she knew all of Fairy Tail's admittedly short list of employees, even if by name and appearance only. She took the hot chocolate into her hands, glancing down to see a very stylized image of the Cancer constellation bobbing near the lip of the cup. For a moment, Lucy simply stood there, eyes flickering from her hands to Jellal's face, tracing the tattoo on his cheek and intently attempting to figure out just _what_ he was.

Jellal's smile was small and a little confused. He certainly looked human. No pointed ears or claws or scales or feathers.

Then again, Lucy did too. But Lucy's injuries also didn't heal in a week when the average, human rate was two months. And now that she thought of it, there was something in the way Jellal moved, flowing and wraithlike, too much akin to Aquarius to be a coincidence. The way that, in the right light, he seemed almost transparent.

Lucy took her food and made way to her table, digging out a novel from the outer pocket of her computer bag. She opened it upright and pretended as if she were studiously reading instead of studiously attempting to stare holes into Jellal and Freed's faces.

* * *

She caught Natsu on his Tuesday evening shift, seven o'clock at night with a stream of college students sprawled out in various states of frantic studying across the café. He was taking orders in quick succession, and Lucy decided to get some food in her stomach and let the place empty a little before she…

Grilled him? Asked him politely about his dragon-side? Just mention it in a side conversation, like, "oh hey, so you're a dragon, apparently, and I mistook the fire-breathing part of your biology for smoking? Oops?"

Lucy buried her face into her hands and made a noise of peeved aggression. If this wasn't even playing out well in her head, then the chances of it going well in real life plummeted drastically. Then again, it was Natsu. Lucy should be fine. All she needed to do was get the misunderstanding out of the way.

In any case, it took half an hour before the number of customers waned. By that time, Lucy had half a dozen conversations scrawled in her notebook in neat, twirling handwriting, arrows drawn across that linked one scenario to another and what-ifs doodled in the margins with purple pen.

The counter was heart-droppingly empty. Lucy could feel her palms go clammy, could feel the rate of her heartbeat pick up into an uneasy tap dance.

Natsu gave her a two finger salute. His voice rang like a gong in Lucy's ears.

It was show time.

"Yo Princess!"

Lucy slipped closed her notebook and rose to a stand, hands braced at the side of her table.

 _Breathe in. Breathe out._ Compose yourself. Tiny stars did cartwheels in her stomach, but they were pushed to one side and ignored as Lucy focused her attention onto Natsu's disarmingly cheerful greeting. "Good afternoon, Natsu."

She skirted up to the counter. Hesitated. Opened and closed her mouth in quick succession. Finally, after a quick glance at the sharply dressed, toffee-haired woman managing the far counter, asked, "Um." Her fingers clenched in sweaty palms. "Can we… go somewhere more private? I have something I want to talk about. In… er… private."

Very eloquent, Lucy.

Natsu blinked at her, then did a slight shrug of his shoulders before turning and hollering, "Yo Evergreen! Can ya manage? I've gonna take my break right now!"

The woman—Evergreen—who was rearranging the basket of muffins on top of the display case, peered over the top of her glasses at them, eyebrow raised and sporting an amused smile, one that went just a tad sharp at the corners and meandered into a smirk.

"Little Natsu's finally got a girlfriend?" she cat-called.

Natsu rolled his eyes. "No," he said flatly. Then added: "This is Lucy. Lucy, Evergreen."

Awkwardly, Lucy waved. Evergreen gave a little bow.

He waved her over to the side, jerking a thumb at the partially hidden door with the "STAFF ONLY" written in block letters near the top. Evergreen watched them leave with that same smirk smile, which Natsu seemed to dutifully ignore and Lucy tried her best to as well, because honestly, she had larger concerns.

"Let's go to the Lounge." Said Natsu.

* * *

The lounge was small but cozy, with plenty of natural light provided by the tall windows near the side. There was a corner decorated with a ring of couches and loveseats. On the low glass table, a half-opened box of donuts sat untouched.

Lucy sank nervously into a soft cushion, hyper aware of every tiny little movement as Natsu seated himself opposite of her, propping his shoes up on the table. The pink-haired man wedged his elbows up on his knees, laced his fingers together, and gave her a questioning look over top his steeped hands.

"So what's up Princess?" he waggled his eyebrows, and for a moment Lucy's anxiety ebbed away to fond exasperation and the urge to smack him lightly upside the head. "Are you gonna take me up on the studying thing?"

Lucy fixed him with a very flat gaze. "Nope."

"Oh come on. I'm not that bad." A flick of his wrist and arm in a grand, wide gesture. "My brother has me edit his manuscripts sometimes. Sort of. I know enough about your classical literature thingy to help."

Somehow, and Lucy didn't know how, she had actually forgotten that Natsu's brother was _Zeref Dragneel._ In the light of this familial revelation, and mainly because Lucy was a giant nerd, the sudden Supernatural subject seemed very small and insignificant in comparison.

She was talking to Zeref Dragneel's brother. Zeref Dragneel had a brother. She could get his autograph. Or better yet, meet him in person.

 _Zeref Dragneel._

Forget about dragons, Lucy could probably die happy if she could shake hands with Natsu's brother.

Natsu plowed on. "And I'm pretty good with plants and animals. Not so much people. But animals are A-okay, since I grew up with a lot of them around." He waved one hand in front of Lucy's slightly expression. "Yo." A dazed blink. "You still there?"

"Zeref Dragneel," breathed Lucy dreamily.

"Um?" said Natsu. He squinted at her. "… do you have a crush on my brother or something?"

"No!" she yelped, snapping out of her reverie, although the honest answer was probably yes. Or at least, yes to his work and his brain and his drool-worthy mastery of the English language. "No," she repeated. "Back to the original topic." One great of leap of strength and perseverance was all she needed. Lucy gathered her wits and tried to speak before she could shrink into herself and abandon the conversation. "Um. Are you dragon?"

Natsu blinked at her stonily. "Yeah?"

There was a silence. Lucy processed this. "…Really?"

"Well yeah," Natsu shrugged, and he seemed so _casual_ about it. Wasn't this supposed to be kept secret? Maybe Lucy was just reading this whole magical business wrong.

"So… it's not a secret?"

"Well," Natsu's mouth twisted into a frown. He tapped his knee with one hand, a statacco tune. "We don't announce it or anything, and for most people, you know, the regular humans, they don't believe it even when we tell them. Transforming in public is kind of a no-no. So." He shrugged. "The people in the know are the ones that would recognize us on first sight anyway."

"And me?"

His features tilted downwards, confused. "What about you Princess?"

" _Me,_ " Lucy emphasized, as if she could cram her thoughts into a coherent question through the tone of her diction alone.

Natsu's confused expression did not abate. "Well," he began slowly. "You're… you? You're not entirely human, obviously. That's easy to tell by the smell. But I don't know exactly what you are because it's just—Do you have wards on by any chance?"

"What do you mean you can smell?" Lucy demanded, and then registered the rest of his sentence. "What do you mean by wards?"

"I can smell everything." Natsu informed her. "And I dunno about the wards part. You're the one that smells really funny. You tell me."

* * *

Date first published: April 29 2016

 **Endnotes:** This was a bit rushed but you know what, we've finally gotten the confrontation out of the way. And I've come to realize that when writing long chapters I like writing descriptions better than I like to write actual plot. Or action. Or conversation.

Tell me what you liked, tell me what you didn't. Reviews are love. XD


	41. Glaze

41: Glaze

* * *

It was present, of course.

Sea salt and just a touch of honeyed starlight. Ocean water. The below of a receding tsunami. Warmth. Early sunrise. An exhale of something soft, something sweet, something that tasted of gold and fire and vigilance.

It was just beneath the surface, seeped into Lucy's skin, and Natsu could less smell and more _feel_ the magic churning there, a paper-thin layer of power and intent that rose and fell with each breath. The problem was that it wasn't her magic. It was familiar magic—signatures that Natsu was sure he had encountered before, he just couldn't remember where— it just wasn't hers.

Lucy had magic, but to Natsu's senses, it was less a coherent mass of power and more a slippery, deftly streamlined thing, clear and see-through and made sickly transparent by the wards. Magic was supposed to have texture, supposed to have colour and smell and a description native to each person because that was the epitome of what they were. Except, Lucy's magic didn't. Or rather that individuality had been squirreled away and glazed to the point that it felt like nothing, as if he were attempting to touch empty air.

* * *

Date first published: May 1 2016


	42. Instincts

42: Instincts

* * *

Lucy's gaze was narrowed, pale brows dented over her huge eyes as she stared at him. "Funny?" she asked squeakily and then her tone went curiously flat. "What."

Natsu tried to snatch at the words, tried to communicate to the best of his ability because magic wasn't something that could be described in sentences alone. "Like… running water," he finally settled on, running his tongue over the edge of his teeth. "And storms. Crashing waves. But then you have this energy and light in-between and that's just…"

"That sounds kind of pleasant?" she ventured tentatively. "Is that bad?"

It wasn't natural, was the problem.

Natsu opted for a shrug.

"It's weird," he explained. "Because it's not your magic. It's…" Natsu felt his lips screw into a grimace, because even he couldn't explain the matching, how he knew instinctively if the signature meshed with the person. It was a dragon-born thing, Zeref had told him. "Empty. Like, it's not supposed to be empty, but your actual magic is behind the waves and the fire and as if it's been suppressed. And the wave and the fire feel like they're supposed to be together but not supposed to be together. Ever."

* * *

Date first published: May 2nd, 2016


	43. Chapter 43

43: The Golden Keys

* * *

Her head was tipped to the side like a bird's, expression contemplating as she digested this. "Waves and light?"

Natsu nodded.

"And this makes me… smell weird," Lucy continued.

Another nod. "Basically."

There was a pause. Lucy stared at her hands and the table and occasionally Natsu's face. She was still contemplating. Thinking. Her eyes were lowered and she was biting her lower lip, hands twisting and untwisting her in her lap in what Natsu recognized as Lucy's thinking face.

Finally, (and Natsu eyed the clock) after a full minute, her entire demeanour went rigid and still. She shot up straight. There was a grin on her face and her eyes were shining.

"Oh." It was as if the train of understanding was finally coming to its station. " _Oh._ I got it.

Natsu blinked. "…Got what?"

"This," said Lucy, nodding in satisfaction. She fished a hand under her collar and came up with a thin gold chain, strung with two elaborate, stylized keys, polished and gleaming in the morning sunlight. They looked—vaguely familiar. Natsu reached his senses closer, took a hesitant sniff, and yes, he was definitely acquainted with the steady stream of energy, like light and ocean.

* * *

Date first published: May 3 2016


	44. Breaking Past

44: Breaking Past

* * *

She beckoned him over.

"Give me your hand. It'll be easier to show you." She grinned ruefully. "My mom taught me this when I was little, been a while since I tried it though."

"Um," said Natsu, eyes still on the keys dangling from its chain, only to be cut short as Lucy rolled her eyes and snatched his left hand from his knee. She pressed her fingers—smooth fingers, pale and soft and touched with pen callouses—to the lines of his palm, shuttered closed her eyes.

And the dam broke.

The magic—the other two magical signatures, grand and powerful in their own right—parted. Not overwhelmed, but simply stepping aside, smooth and rehearsed as another wave of energy shown through, beacon bright. It was soft and beautiful, drawn in buttery yellows, akin to the fall of autumn leaves as they swirled to the ground. It felt of early spring showers. The midday breeze kicking in through the open window of a warm kitchen.

It felt of—

Natsu remembered the stories. The ancient ones Igneel had taught him. Suddenly, all of Lucy's wards and magic dampening made a whole lot of sense.

"You're an angel?" he choked out.

* * *

Date first published: May 4, 2016


	45. Connections

45: Connections

* * *

"I'm part angel," Lucy corrected. "A very small part angel. Barely negligible, really."

Angels were powerful creatures, and those with even a pinch of their blood were a hunted, exceptional luxury in the supernatural community due to the fact that their flesh was a ridiculously powerful magic and healing augment. Lucy's magic was strong. Beaming. If the wards weren't around Natsu was sure she'd have a parade of stalkers. Magnolia's Supernatural Laws were powerful, but the satisfaction of Angel blood was enticing enough for people to completely ignore them.

And then there was the layering magic.

Of course the layering magic was familiar. Of course the keys were familiar. Natsu had known that Loke and that crazy-water-woman were celestial spirits, that they needed a portal and an anchor in the human realm to be present. He just hadn't given the whole situation a lot of thought beyond the courtesy nudge.

The keys were the portal. _Lucy was the anchor._ They were her guardians, if she had their keys, so of course they would be the originators of the wards.

It was just that after the incident with Karen, Natsu had automatically started listing their magical signatures under the "do not mix" category.

* * *

Date first published: May 5, 2016


	46. Abilities

46: Abilities

* * *

"Angel," Natsu repeated dumbly, sounding as if he had been barrelled over by a speeding truck. Lucy found this patently befuddling. He was the dragon here, and her angel-ness was, as a whole, a very minuscule part of herself. It was where her colouring came from (a parade of pictures dating back three hundred years dictated that all Heartfillia woman sported blond hair and brown eyes, no matter the generational gap) and it gave her luck, just a touch of it, what Loke described as a golden cloak of blessing tucked around her shoulders, nudging her down paths of fortune, whether it be financially or relationship-wise.

Beyond that though, Lucy could call on her spirits. If she tried very hard and drew on her knowledge of the human anatomy, she could, on the rare occasion, heal as well. Paper cuts, little scrapes and bruises, a flare of soft magic to ease a bad back or lower a headache. It wasn't very much, and it definitely didn't compare to what an experienced shaman or witch could do if they tried, but Lucy's lineage was old and watered down. Even the bit of magic she had was considered an anomaly.

* * *

Date first published: May 11, 2016


	47. Chapter 47

47: Lull

* * *

"Well enough about me." Lucy dropped her keys back beneath the collar of her blouse, waving one hand in front of Natsu's dazed features in hopes of reaction. "You're the… part dragon? Half? I'm not too well acquainted with these things."

"Half," Natsu mumbled absently. He blinked in rapid succession, as if hoping to clear the fog of shock sliding through his head. "My dad—Igneel. He was a dragon. And my mom was human."

Pleased, because Natsu was reaching a state of coherency that said he was regaining his higher mental functions, Lucy nodded encouragingly. "Can you breathe fire?"

"I can _eat_ fire."

Well. That was very… biologically improbable. But he was magic, and magic defied the laws of physics.

"Okay," said Lucy. "So you said you could smell _anything_."

"Uh huh."

"Like one of those bloodhounds."

Natsu's expression took a turn for the affronted. " _Much_ better than—"

There was a click, and Evergreen strode in the door, her dark grey uniform vest folded over one arm. "As palpable as the sexual tension is," she interrupted, surveying the two of them, "I have a date in thirty minutes. Natsu. Get to the counter. Jellal's filling in for me."

* * *

Date first published: May 12 2016


End file.
